Yes. And I remember it being both too short and too much "solve the problem this way or else you're stuck forever" to really recommend it. I'm still waiting for a new Populous, where everything is dynamic and you'd be hard pressed to ever play the same level the same way.

I played it. The problem was that it was the worst ported pc version of a game in history. And the DRM was a nightmare. When you actually got to play around with the mechanics it was fun but everything else was shiat.

I loved Populous: The Beginning, made by Bullfrog if I remember correctly. That game is ripe for a modern remake in my opinion. I can't think of any other game quite like it... It was build & conquer, but completely different from most games in that genre.

I love playing God when I was a kid. When our yard would flood in the Spring, I had realistic snowy mountains, tundra, ice floes and seas to play with, and I could make lakes and rivers and drainage canals to my heart's content.

I had Matchbox and Dinky cars and even little houses to scatter around the puddles like little Newfoundland outports.

I'd also use moss and other plants to make little dioramas, and make little Borrower type furniture out of matchboxes and so forth.

Anything miniature and very realistic amuses me. It's fun to put on your Seven League Boots and stride through the landscape like a god.

I've tried solar system simulators but damn, it's hard to create a stable solar system. Best to leave that to the Elder Gods. Just futz around with evolution and landscaping and stuff. The world is my play pen.

Even as a tiny child I loved to play with blocks and in order to avoid them falling down when the pile became unstable, I would knock them down myself.

Build, build, build. It may be hereditary, as a lot of my ancestors were masons, carpenters and farmers, shaping the urban and rural landscape in productive, constructive ways, or else clergymen, shaping humans for better or worse.

brantgoose:I've tried solar system simulators but damn, it's hard to create a stable solar system. Best to leave that to the Elder Gods. Just futz around with evolution and landscaping and stuff. The world is my play pen.

Have you found a good evolution or landscape builder? I've been looking for one ever since the disappointment of Spore.

Lucifer was cast from Heaven for telling Player 1:"Quit hitting the tornado button you chucklefark."

In Black & White, I had the "Big Cat" avatar, and put him on the Learning Leash to show him how to supply researchers to the villagers. While he was doing that, I needed a little population boost, so I commanded a few guys to procreate. One dumbass didn't listen, and instead trundled off to the woods to chop down trees (gay, no doubt.) To teach him and the others a lesson, I picked him up and threw him screaming over the mountains.

Awhile later, I'm futzing around with something else, and I heard a bunch of screams and had a flood of prayers coming in. I went to have a look, and my avatar was stomping through the village, picking up random people and throwing them over the mountains. Seems I'd forgotten to remove the Learning Leash. I smacked him around for a bit, and that fixed that.

MrEricSir:If you liked Populus, you should really be checking out Peter Molyneux's new god game, Godus.

I have a love-hate relationship with Peter Molyneux. He's supposed to be this great god-game guru, and I like the stuff he says, and I've even had fun with his games, but it seems to be that what he says never really corresponds to how the games actually turn out.

Black and White, for example, made a big deal about being God, and instead I end up teaching my pet not to shiat in the village square. Fun? Yeah. Being God? Not too sure.Fable? Be your own kind of hero or villain, explore a large world that responds to your choices, and instead I end up with some cosmetic changes that don't affect the incredibly linear storyline. Fun? Yeah. My own kind of hero affecting the story? Not so much.

Godus looks great, but I remain wary that what I get isn't what I expect, even if it's fun.

Sergeant Grumbles:MrEricSir: If you liked Populus, you should really be checking out Peter Molyneux's new god game, Godus.

I have a love-hate relationship with Peter Molyneux. He's supposed to be this great god-game guru, and I like the stuff he says, and I've even had fun with his games, but it seems to be that what he says never really corresponds to how the games actually turn out.

Black and White, for example, made a big deal about being God, and instead I end up teaching my pet not to shiat in the village square. Fun? Yeah. Being God? Not too sure.Fable? Be your own kind of hero or villain, explore a large world that responds to your choices, and instead I end up with some cosmetic changes that don't affect the incredibly linear storyline. Fun? Yeah. My own kind of hero affecting the story? Not so much.

Godus looks great, but I remain wary that what I get isn't what I expect, even if it's fun.

Yup. You might enjoy this Wired article about Molyneux (and how people make fun of him for his unfulfilled claims.)

I've always wanted a tiered Maxis game. Sort of like what Spore was meant to be, I guess, but a little different.

Start with Spore/SimLife. Develop a lifeform, give it a society, have the game learn how this new culture behaves. Migrate up to SimCity. Manage a village / town / burgeoning city. When you wish, move up to Civilization. Move to another SimCity (randomly generated based on your first). Optional plugins to manage Railroads and Theme Parks and even Spore-based The Sims.

Every system talking to the others. Eventually, when you "win" the game and move on to Alpha Centauri, it starts over again with your Spore-life intermingling with the AlphaCent-life.

Alas, I think it's too ambitious to ever occur... but I'd love being involved in its development.

SordidEuphemism:I've always wanted a tiered Maxis game. Sort of like what Spore was meant to be, I guess, but a little different.

Start with Spore/SimLife. Develop a lifeform, give it a society, have the game learn how this new culture behaves. Migrate up to SimCity. Manage a village / town / burgeoning city. When you wish, move up to Civilization. Move to another SimCity (randomly generated based on your first). Optional plugins to manage Railroads and Theme Parks and even Spore-based The Sims.

Every system talking to the others. Eventually, when you "win" the game and move on to Alpha Centauri, it starts over again with your Spore-life intermingling with the AlphaCent-life.

Alas, I think it's too ambitious to ever occur... but I'd love being involved in its development.

I've thought something like that would be interesting, but I was thinking a Minecraft -> Civilization progression.

MMO type where people could build their towns, create cities, expand and meet other towns and either create civilizations or conquer each other.

Virtual Pariah:SordidEuphemism: I've always wanted a tiered Maxis game. Sort of like what Spore was meant to be, I guess, but a little different.

Start with Spore/SimLife. Develop a lifeform, give it a society, have the game learn how this new culture behaves. Migrate up to SimCity. Manage a village / town / burgeoning city. When you wish, move up to Civilization. Move to another SimCity (randomly generated based on your first). Optional plugins to manage Railroads and Theme Parks and even Spore-based The Sims.

Every system talking to the others. Eventually, when you "win" the game and move on to Alpha Centauri, it starts over again with your Spore-life intermingling with the AlphaCent-life.

Alas, I think it's too ambitious to ever occur... but I'd love being involved in its development.

I've thought something like that would be interesting, but I was thinking a Minecraft -> Civilization progression.

MMO type where people could build their towns, create cities, expand and meet other towns and either create civilizations or conquer each other.

Basically, the world on an accelerated timeline.

Yes, where you can choose your 'level' of actor at any given moment, and the rest runs on autopilot. You're an Emperor. You direct these three villages to mine, and the fourth to grow wheat. Zoom into wheat-village, now you're a minor noble directing the peasants where to plant, etc.

Give the MMO version a 'start-up' time where they can generate life-forms and what-not before other civilizations become aware of them. Maintain random land-masses of a small handful of players, arranged in worlds with a handful of landmasses, and then the worlds in systems, and the systems in constellations, and so forth. Want to conquer the universe? Get busy.

SordidEuphemism:Virtual Pariah: SordidEuphemism: I've always wanted a tiered Maxis game. Sort of like what Spore was meant to be, I guess, but a little different.

Start with Spore/SimLife. Develop a lifeform, give it a society, have the game learn how this new culture behaves. Migrate up to SimCity. Manage a village / town / burgeoning city. When you wish, move up to Civilization. Move to another SimCity (randomly generated based on your first). Optional plugins to manage Railroads and Theme Parks and even Spore-based The Sims.

Every system talking to the others. Eventually, when you "win" the game and move on to Alpha Centauri, it starts over again with your Spore-life intermingling with the AlphaCent-life.

Alas, I think it's too ambitious to ever occur... but I'd love being involved in its development.

I've thought something like that would be interesting, but I was thinking a Minecraft -> Civilization progression.

MMO type where people could build their towns, create cities, expand and meet other towns and either create civilizations or conquer each other.

Basically, the world on an accelerated timeline.

Yes, where you can choose your 'level' of actor at any given moment, and the rest runs on autopilot. You're an Emperor. You direct these three villages to mine, and the fourth to grow wheat. Zoom into wheat-village, now you're a minor noble directing the peasants where to plant, etc.

Give the MMO version a 'start-up' time where they can generate life-forms and what-not before other civilizations become aware of them. Maintain random land-masses of a small handful of players, arranged in worlds with a handful of landmasses, and then the worlds in systems, and the systems in constellations, and so forth. Want to conquer the universe? Get busy.

Exactly.

Create the worlds as necessary, then let the players shape the adventure.Tie in a good tech tree that would add in other minigames (use kerbal as a example, say the spaceflight parts work like that), then add in some starflight or elite space exploration to other planets and their civilizations.

It may even encompass giant robots and or space marines, if that is the direction a culture move in.Others may explore with "AI" or automated systems, others with planetary based communications.

SordidEuphemism:Yes, where you can choose your 'level' of actor at any given moment, and the rest runs on autopilot. You're an Emperor. You direct these three villages to mine, and the fourth to grow wheat. Zoom into wheat-village, now you're a minor noble directing the peasants where to plant, etc.

Give the MMO version a 'start-up' time where they can generate life-forms and what-not before other civilizations become aware of them. Maintain random land-masses of a small handful of players, arranged in worlds with a handful of landmasses, and then the worlds in systems, and the systems in constellations, and so forth. Want to conquer the universe? Get busy.

Hell, EVE could do something like this, but in the other direction.

I've had this sort of idea. Even had it tied to subscriptions. The casual players could only access certain content, like being the citizens that inhabit the mining and wheat farming towns. The idea being that the game's version of Farmville would be fueling other endeavors.The subscribers get more, having more freedom with their own personal plots of property and having the ability to band together into guilds/townships which make the higher level actors available.

Sergeant Grumbles:SordidEuphemism: Yes, where you can choose your 'level' of actor at any given moment, and the rest runs on autopilot. You're an Emperor. You direct these three villages to mine, and the fourth to grow wheat. Zoom into wheat-village, now you're a minor noble directing the peasants where to plant, etc.

Give the MMO version a 'start-up' time where they can generate life-forms and what-not before other civilizations become aware of them. Maintain random land-masses of a small handful of players, arranged in worlds with a handful of landmasses, and then the worlds in systems, and the systems in constellations, and so forth. Want to conquer the universe? Get busy.

Hell, EVE could do something like this, but in the other direction.

I've had this sort of idea. Even had it tied to subscriptions. The casual players could only access certain content, like being the citizens that inhabit the mining and wheat farming towns. The idea being that the game's version of Farmville would be fueling other endeavors.The subscribers get more, having more freedom with their own personal plots of property and having the ability to band together into guilds/townships which make the higher level actors available.